All of your hard work is starting to pay off! Getting an offer on your house is a great feeling. Let’s review what that looks like and how you might have leverage during negotiations.

Don’t take offense to lowball offers from buyers. Sometimes people are just looking for a steal. I will say though, it is very important to always counter. Always.

The buyers may actually be interested in paying full price, or close to it. They just want to test you first. And if you didn’t bother with a counter, they may just completely walk away.

So don’t get offended and always counter back, even if you want to counter back at full price. You never know!

This is the best possible scenario for you! Buyers will naturally drive up the price because your house is a hot commodity. But a couple things you need to know.

Don’t let a ton of offers start to stack up and keep buyers waiting. Some will become impatient and withdraw their offer. And you don’t want the highest bidder checking out! So, if you receive multiple offers, set a short deadline for everyone to submit their best and final offers. For example, give buyers until 5pm the next day. By doing this, you can drive the price up even further as buyers and their agents send in revised offers.

One way to ensure that you get the most money from the sale is to negotiate any items in the home you are willing to part ways with. For example, items like a washer, dryer, fridge, projector, projector screens, furniture, drapes and rods, the list goes on.

Use some of these items to your advantage if you don’t care to part ways with them. Talk with your agent, whether it’s us or someone else, to see what may be best to use!

We do not fully accept a verbal commitment, everything needs to be in writing. Once we receive the offers in writing, we always review them with our clients and provide them with a net sheet for each offer (if there are multiple). Keep in mind you can also counter someone’s offer, more than once if you need to.

The net sheet that we provide our clients with for each offer, breaks down all the costs associated with the sale and will provide you a pretty accurate number for how much you will receive at closing. Here is a link to view an online net sheet and calculate estimates for yourself.

I will say, sometimes the first offer you get is the best offer you may ever get. Sometimes, not all of the time! Maybe not the offer itself, but the person behind the offer.

It’s important to gauge all of the circumstances behind the offer as well. Like is summer about to be over and school is about to start? Have you been on the market for a long time with no offers? How much money have you paid in holding costs and maintenance costs? If the offer is only off about $10,000 less than you wanted, does it make sense to take it? Well, that question is for you to answer.

Every circumstance is different, so it’s best to have this conversation with us or another agent you choose to work with.

Sometimes it makes sense to just let the buyer walk away. If they will not budge on price and are being difficult to work with, this could indicate they will be even more difficult during the inspection period. Sometimes it’s just not worth it.

If you have only been on the market for a short period of time and the buyers are unwilling to negotiate, then it may be best to let them walk. Again, this is the type of conversation you and your agent need to have before accepting an offer or letting someone walk away from the deal altogether.

We hope this video and article brought you some insight on what it can be like receiving an offer! If this article helped you, share it on social media with your friends and family. You never know who else it could help.

Don’t forget to check out the next part of this series – What to expect: Before closing.